Appendix L.
REPORT ON THE BOTANICAL & FORESTRY DEPARTMENT.
GARDENS AND GROUNDS.
Botanic Gardens--With the exception of the month of October, the year on the whole was a very favourable one for gardening. The rainfall for October was the greatest on record, and, in addition there was a gale of considerable force on the 19th of the month.
For many years endeavours have been made, with little success, to flower Sweet Peas, although at Kowloon and at West Point, places which get much more sunshine than the Botanic Gardens, the results have been more satisfactory. This year, seeds from Australia, presented by Mrs. Rowe, flowered freely in April, and were better than anything previously obtained in the Gardens. It is very pleasing to be able to record a still greater success. A few seeds of an early flowering variety were obtained from Messrs. Sutton and Sons and were sown on the 18th October, and the plants were in full flower on the 30th December.
There was an exceedingly fine show of Gladioli in both the Old and New Gardens in May, and Gloxinias made a brilliant display in the No. 3 house in June. In the same house earlier in the year Primula obeonica was very attractive.
The old double-flowered Daffodil, bulbs of which were presented to the Gardens by Mr. J. Barton, flowered well on the bank above the Grevillea walk in the Old Garden,
A very pretty addition to our winter flowering plants was made in Monochosma riparium, a small shrub with panicles of small white flowers which are produced in large quantities. The plant is easily grown, and is sure to become a general favourite.
An addition to local vegetables was made by the Tiger Bean, known botanically as Mucuna nivea. Besides being useful as a vegetable, cooked in the same way as French Beans, it is of great interest botanically. It was first described by Roxburgh, in his Flora Indica in 1832, from cultivated plants at Calcutta. Hitherto the plant was not known by Europeans in China, but it was described in Chinese botanical works centuries ago. The seeds from which the plants were raised, were presented to the Gardens by one of the gardeners who brought them back from his native village in Kwangtung, where he says it has been grown to his knowledge for the last forty years.
The flower and vegetable show of the Hongkong Horticultural Society was held in the Gardens on the 26th of February, and was a great success horticulturally, but the financial results were greatly marred by the wet weather.